


Ghost Ship

by Nightblade



Category: Dead Space (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:20:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21905863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightblade/pseuds/Nightblade
Summary: Isabelle Parker is an assistant medical officer on the USG Ishimura.  What was supposed to be a routine excavation at just another mining colony turns into a nightmare.
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a behind the scenes tale to help expand the known storyline. It does contain a few mild spoilers so beware. I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter 1 - Premonition 

Crew Log: Assistant Medical Officer Isabelle Parker  
I can’t remember the last time I’ve been back on Earth. For the past few years I’ve been confined to the interior of the planet cracker class USG Ishimura mining vessel, a spacious craft but not plentiful in fresh air or shopping malls. The only fresh air (if you could call it that) has been on backwater mining planets and it was far from refreshing. At least I get to work in a sterile environment in the medical wing, those poor bastards in engineering get most of the grunt work and suffer 95% of all workplace injuries on board. I still remember the last one we had. They had tethered another asteroid but when they brought it in the tether compromised its integrity causing it to fragment as it was pulled in. The pieces rained onto the mining crew on standby giving multiple various gashes and lesions but one miner had his right arm shattered as it was pinned under the debris. The screaming still echoes in my mind as I remember the gruesome sight they dragged into the operating room. His right arm had bone fragments poking through the flesh and falling out, it looked as if he had fallen into a cactus because there were hundreds of small white splinters decorating his destroyed limb. Our senior medical officer Nicole Brennan was our savior in these situations, she always knew what to do. As the mans screams echoed in the room she ordered us what to do so we could save the mans life. “Chang get the cutter. Parker anesthetic. Johnson get to the prosthetics department, tell them we need white male full right arm preferably with a 7” diameter. Peters start the transfusion.” She kept us in order and made things run smoothly, she saved more lives than we could count. Brennan was everyone’s rock in these situations and always kept a cool head. I came back with the anesthesia and injected the patient in his left arm and Peters started the blood transfusion, but we had to work fast if we were to save him. Chang came back with the cutter and Brennan took it and proceeded to sever the splintered right arm entirely leaving a bleeding nub. We rushed to clear off the right arm and remaining splinters to prep for the prosthetics arrival. I almost didn’t notice the screaming had subsided as my head was pounding from the adrenaline, I’m not sure how suitable I am for these kinds of operations. While we waited for Johnson to return nobody said a word, the only noise was the beeping of monitors that kept track of vitals. Each beep seemed to echo in the silence and ring in my ears as we began to shift back and forth in anxiousness. Finally Johnson rushed back into the operating room with the miners new arm and we began the attachment process. We had to make sure the nub on the right arm remained open as we attached the new arm and sewed it on, but we couldn’t just sew the skin. It was my job to sew the muscles and tissues together and inject a healing agent into the bones to promote bone fusion. We then had to finish the stitching and create multiple small incisions along the arm to try to promote blood flow and make sure it functioned as intended. This kind of process takes ours and leaves us covered in blood and multiple fleshy tissues, I almost vomit each time. At least I’m almost done with this line of work, we only have one more colony to visit then we are Earth bound and I am done with space travel. I think I will probably try to get a cushy job as a pediatrician and maybe I can finally start a family. This lifestyle seemed okay as a 17 year old run away but at 25 I think I’m ready to try and settle down for good.   
My personal intercom started beeping causing me to jump and hit my head on the top of my bunk. “Fuck!” I rubbed my head as I mumbled more curse words before I opened the com to see medical officer Brennan on the monitor. “Good morning Isabelle, you sleep well?” She is always so formal in private and I hate it. “Nicole I told you to call me Belle when not in the office. We,re friends right?” She apologized “I’m sorry it’s been a long shift, I’ve been doing final check ups on the miners and engineers heading down to the colony.” I put down my journal and slid out of bed to stretch. I asked “Which colony is it this time?” I yawned as she sighed and said in a displeased tone “Aegis VII...”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle Parker receives troubling news that the USG Ishimura is in forbidden space which could lead to unforeseen consequences.

Chapter 2 - Discovery

Aegis VII is a planetoid out in forbidden space, anyone who breaks this law is at the mercy of Earth Gov. My throat felt dry as I slumped back onto my bunk. I was barely able to utter the question “The Aegis VII?” Nicole grimaced slightly and nodded. We both know this could be very bad, not only for our careers but our lives as well. The stories I’ve heard about Earth Gov and offenders of closed space usually include a mass culling of those involved and a very few shipped off to some facility somewhere. All in all you do not want to cross Earth Gov. “I can’t believe this Nicole, how could they do this to us? If we get caught our lives are over!” She sighed and said “I know but what can we do? This was an order from high up, besides it should be an easy job then we are home bound.” She seemed to be lost in thought toward the end of that statement, a smile slowly creeping over her face. “You thinking about your boyfriend again Nicole? What was his name again, Ivan?” She laughed and hook her head “No it’s Isaac, Isaac Clarke and you knew that Belle.” Whenever she mentions him it’s almost as if she isn’t even here, I can’t imagine just how much she misses him. “Well if all goes well, and we don’t get caught, you’ll see him soon enough.” I said with a smile. Nicole always perks up when Isaac gets brought up and I hope they get to be together soon.   
The ships intercom chimed to alert the crew that an announcement is to follow. “All engineers and miners heading planetside the shuttles are about to depart, please report to your stations.” So it’s already begun, the possible countdown till our discovery and execution. That last thought sent a chill down my spine, I never thought I’d have to risk my life to line some corporate suits’ pockets. It really puts your life into perspective, just seeing how much someone else values your life. “Belle are you ok? You look a little pale?” I didn’t realize I had spaced out, I shook my head then nodded “Yeah, I’m ok. I’m gonna get dressed and I’ll be right up. See you in 40.” I think she knew better but just nodded then cut the feed. My bunk was in block C next to the Z-ball court, never got the hang of that sport, which was the farthest from the showers. I hated having a bunk so far back but that’s how it goes, but you’d think with the bunks being so close to the sports court it’d be prime real estate. I gathered what strength I had to get up and got to my feet. My legs are shaking but I need to get going, not much I can do to change anything now. I went to my foot locker and grabbed a change of clothes then began heading to the showers.   
The ship seemed pretty lively today with the commons area full of workers with their families and friends enjoying themselves. I always thought it was cute seeing families playing together, the parents and children alike having the time of their lives. It makes me wish I had a family to love. I made it through the commons area and to the showers, enjoying the nice hot water that soothed my skin. I finished my shower after enjoying the heat for a short time then put on my attire of work boots and medical jumpsuit with a rig attachment. Once I put it on I felt the slight tingle of the rig assessing my vitals and linking up to the Ishimura’s central hub. “Shows blue across the board.” I told myself for no reason. I have a bad habit of stating the obvious at times, I’ve been trying to work on it. The trek from the showers to the tram station is a short walk but I almost missed the tram because of a long line at the shop stop in the terminal. They need to move those things, on a busy day the lines completely block the doorway to residential.  
After leaving residential the tram made a quick stop at the bridge then headed for the medical wing. When I finally got to the medical wing things were crazy. People were talking excitedly, patients and medical personnel alike. I made my way to Nicole’s office passing multiple groups of people all huddled together and saying things like “We’ve found it!” And “It was here all along!” I think I also heard the name Altman whispered a few times. What the hell is going on here? I finally made it to Nicole’s office after forcing my way past a few whispering doctors who gave me shifty looks after I passed them. I opened the door to her office and closed it right away. “Nicole what the hell is going on out there?” I whispered for fear of the others hearing me. “It’s like a god damned cult around here.” She was at her desk working on her terminal and glanced at me before saying “I’m not really sure, it seems they found something on the surface. A marker of sorts, and I think it holds some kind of religious value to some people on the ship.” That would explain the cult vibe I’ve been feeling. “I just hope it doesn’t interfere with anyone’s work, we have a job to do. I wanna get out of here as soon as we can.” She agreed. We began to prepare our files for the workers that went down to the surface so we could do check ups in accordance with CEC regulation. I had just gathered the files and began to walk to the door when the Ishimura’s lockdown alarm sounded. That is definitely not according to procedure...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The No Fly Zone order is given and something has gone horribly wrong

Chapter 3 - No Fly Zone

Nicole seemed as shocked as I was that the alarms were going off and began trying to hail Captain Matthius on her comm. The alarm was blaring for what felt like forever, like a drawn-out fire drill. I looked outside the office to see doctors and patients alike covering their ears and looking around in confusion. Turning back to Nicole I yelled “What the hell is going on?!” She turned off her comm and replied with a shout “I don’t know! I can’t get ahold of Matthius or anybody else on the bridge!” She seemed as annoyed as I was, which wasn’t common for her. Suddenly the alarm stopped. With the new silence it seemed almost overwhelmingly quiet. Then came an announcement  
Attention all personnel   
the USG Ishimura is now a no  
fly zone. There will be no shuttles  
departing or arriving from the Aegis  
VII colony. This is not a drill, I repeat this   
is not a drill.   
“Nicole what in the fuck is...” the door to the office swung open startling me and causing me to drop the returning crew files. It was Dr. Ron Johnson and he delivered some grim news. “Dr. Brennan, Dr. Parker there was a disaster on the planet. Only 4 of the mining crew made it back and they are in bad condition.” Nicole was up and pushing her way out of the office towards the emergency center with me and Johnson in tow. We made our way to the ER, Nicole shoving past other doctors that stood between her and her patients. But when we got to where the miners were being treated it was too late. I knew they were going to be in bad condition but this was horrendous. Three out of the four appeared to be almost butchered with lacerations covering their bodies as if they were dropped in a blender. The blood had seeped through the bedding on their gurneys and began pooling beneath them. I ran to check their vitals but they passed before we even entered the room and the remaining one was not long for this world. I covered the three dead with a white sheet that was almost immediately soaked in blood. He was cold and shaking, blood soaked his clothes and covered his flesh like the others, it was grim. I was struggling to keep my stomach under control with how gruesome the details of the mans condition was. Someone or something took a bite out of his face leaving jagged teeth marks and missing flesh from his cheek showing the muscles underneath and his own teeth. Nicole being visibly shaken approached the man and sought to give him comfort in his final moments. We gathered around him to try and at least make his last moments comforting. I moved to the side of his gurney and sent Johnson to get me some morphine to help with the mans’ pain. Nicole moved to the other side and took his hand assuring him that everything was ok and he was safe. The look in his eyes was wild, like a cornered animal looking for a way out. “S-safe? N-n-no w-we aren’t s-safe. T-they’re coming.” He stammered while turning his head to make eye contact with Nicole. His expression turned to an almost hypnotized gaze as he uttered “They’re going to make us whole.” He sounded almost at peace. But then he jolted up with surprising strength, his ruined body barely able to hold itself together any longer, jerked his head towards me then lunged. “MAKE US WHOLE! MAKE US WHOLE!” He began screaming as he grabbed my throat and squeezed, I fell from the shock but his grip only dragged him with me pulling the gurney down with us. He was on top of me with his ruined face hovering inches above mine screaming “MAKE US WHOLE!” As he squeezed tighter causing my vision to begin to blur. My mind was panicking but all I could do was attempt to push him off as I gasped for air, his blood and spittle raining on my face as the abuse continued. Nicole screamed at Johnson to help and I was vaguely aware of the gurney being moved off of us. Then I saw them trying to pull the man off me but his blood and peeling flesh made it almost impossible. My hands were feebly trying to push him away but with my waning strength and the slippery blood it was impossible. He was still screaming MAKE US WHOLE as my vision blackened and I felt my strength leave me, his voice and haunting visage etched into my mind.


End file.
